The Crafters Saga: Autumn
by Fahrwood
Summary: It's Austin Burner's first year at Holland Mining Academy. As a teenage boy in love with exploring, the academy for miners-in-training seems as a step in the wrong direction. However, when a mystery regarding the disturbing past of a girl named June begins to unfold, Austin's life at this boarding school turns into the adventure he never expected.


**This is the rewrite of the first book in _The Crafters Saga_, entitled _Autumn_. I deleted this story a year ago, but now I'm back to rewrite it, and finish it.  
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**Please review, it helps a ton! Enjoy!**

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><p>I scaled up the thick tree carefully. The rough bark was clawing miserably at my skin, but I kept going. As I elevated up the branches, a curtain of blooming autumn leaves covered me perfectly out of sight from anyone. Finally, I hit the top of the tree, and sat still on a cold branch.<p>

Curiously, I peered out of the fall leaves. There it was: my new school. It was called Holland Mining Academy, a boarding school for students who want to advance in the "art" of mining.

That is exactly why I, Austin Burner, did not belong at this particular school. I wasn't a miner! My father had long tried to convince me about how important it was to become a skilled miner, which in some cases, is true. Considering the world we live in, Minecraft, you can't deny that mining is an important thing to know.

But I _do _know how to mine. In fact, I'm not that bad. But what I want to do now is explore, which isn't approved in my father's eyes.

I stared at the school for several minutes, occasionally shifting my nervous body on the frigid branches of the tree. I was still waiting for _him_ to arrive. My older brother.

His name is David, and he's an excellent miner, always was. Even though he's like my dad in some ways, he's opposite in others. David also finds mining to be a vital skill of life. However, David fully respects the fact that I'd much rather be an explorer, and supports me one hundred percent of the time. He's pretty great.

My eyes furiously scanned the school campus, constantly prepared to see David strut towards the school. But he still wasn't coming. I did see lots of other students, though. Some looked kind cool, while some frightened me a bit. After all, I was only a freshman at the time.

Finally, I spotted him: my charming brother. As usual, he was surrounded by a few bright friends, but I didn't recognize any of them. Suddenly, I imagined how lucky he was, to be attending this boarding school for the fourth and final year, unlike me, who was just coming here for the first time.

Honestly, I was a little frightened by the thought of attending a boarding school, which you only leave on holidays or other special breaks. Unlike normal school, here you were trapped on school grounds almost all the time, with no family to support you. Not that my parents would have supported me anyway. Well, at least I had David.

David! I suddenly remembered to stay close to him, so I quickly hopped out of the tree and clamped onto the crisp autumn ground. I ran across the school grounds for the first time, dashing and dodging across other students.

Finally, when I began to zone into his crew, I slowed down my pace to seen casual, and strolled up next to him. "Hey, Austin!" he smiled and turned over to face me. I waved awkwardly as we kept walking closer to the school doors.

I found myself a bit offended when the other people surrounding David began to stride off in other directions as soon as I arrived. Were they embarrassed by me?

"How do you like the school so far, buddy?" he asked lightly. I sighed playfully.

"David," I began, "don't start with the sunny attitude."

He gave me a wry smile. "Okay, you're right." he grinned, "Welcome to high school. It sucks. Enjoy."

I chuckled, and so did he. "Thanks." I said. Suddenly, I noticed we were entering the double doors of the school. What I saw next caught me completely off guard.

I began to feel sick as we the floors and ceilings literally began to dip underground. It was then I realized that Holland Academy was built completely underground.

Another reason I'm a terrible miner: My phobia of being underground. I can do caves, but if I begin to sink into the earth, it won't be pretty. Regardless, I had no choice but to adjust.

I staggered along the hallways next to David, as we kept descending farther under the earth. Finally, things leveled out, and at good timing too, for if we had gone any farther, I probably would have lost consciousness.

I saw David shoot me a few looks, and finally he asked, "Are you okay with this decline, buddy?" I nodded sickly. It was time to get over this fear.

Once I began to recover from the incident, I realized how normal this place looked, apart from the fact that the ceilings and walls were completely made of dirt and clay. We strolled along the hallways, occasionally passing a student or teacher, probably just as confused as I was. But, I kept following David along every twist and turn, with no doubt he knew what he was doing.

Finally, to me relief, we arrived at what looked like as a front office. Well, it really wasn't a front office, considering it was so far away from the actual front of the school.

The office seemed to be enclosed in a glass dome, which we had to enter from massive glass double doors, which were already opened. The walls of the dome were transparent, so you could see anything that was happening inside the room from the outside.

When we entered the glass dome, I peered around the room, finding that the only dirt areas were yet again the floor and ceiling. However, the long desk that curved around the middle of the office appeared to be made of some kind of deathly pale cobblestone. Also, the desk was littered with all kinds of office supplies, like staplers and folders. Most everything was a rainy grey.

I looked over at David, who seemed to be focusing intensely on something. Sure that he knew what he was doing, I loosened up a bit. That's when the strange odor came back. I held my noise helplessly as a burst of dirty air flooded my nostrils with all sorts of unpleasant smells.

I glanced at David, who was standing firmly at the desk, now talking to a woman I hadn't noticed, and he didn't appear to be bothered by the smell at all. Neither did the woman. I turned around and peered outside of the glass dome, at the few students and staff bustling in the dirt hallways. Most of them also didn't seem bothered by the smell. I figured I would get used to it.

Finally, after a few minutes of getting adjusted to the new odor, I caught David nodding at the woman behind the desk. Then, without even glancing at me, he turned and left the office, leaving me baffled and alone.

I started to trail out to catch up with my brother, when the woman at the desk stopped me.

"Oh, where are you going, sweetie?" she called. I sighed.

Curious, I strolled up to the desk she was behind, and a clipboard holding pale papers was slapped in front of me.

"What are these?" I asked, trying not to sound as curious as I was.

She hastily and answered, and I was beginning to catch on to the fact that this was a quick woman. "Because you're a freshman, I'm going to have to require you to fill out these forms for me." she said sternly. And hadn't she just called me "sweetie"?  
>So, without any more questions, I strolled over to one of the thick leather couches at the corner of the office, and sat down with the clipboard in hand, to fill out the papers.<p>

Just as I sat down, I swore that a quick smirk shot across the woman's sharp maroon lips. But maybe I was wrong.

I looked at the first form silently, carefully scanning the questions. It appeared that I knew almost all of the answers, except for stupid ones like, "What's you're security ID?" and "How old is your mother's father?" Seriously, what was with these questions…

I filled them out the best I could. "What's your full name?" _Austin Tuck Burner, _I scribbled in. "How old are you?" _Fourteen Years Old. _I sighed. This was going to be a while.


End file.
